Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley today introduced Bob McMillen as the first head coach of their Arena Football League team that will play in Anaheim starting next year.
But this afternoon's announcement at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip is being drowned out by calls growing louder than ever for Tim Tebow to accept an offer on the table to become the L.A. Kiss quarterback.
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Tebow, who went from winning the Heisman at Florida to significant playing time with the Denver Broncos to less playing time with the New York Jets to being cut by the New England Patriots, has a “serious,” three-year offer for “what could be millions of dollars” to play pro ball for the KISS founders' team, whose home games will be at the Honda Center.
Jacksonville Jaguar fans had also been pining for Tebow's weak arm and uncanny knack to move the chains. Following the Jags' season-opening 28-2 loss to the Raiders, Magic Johnson jokingly tweeted: “If the Jaguars are only going to score two points, they might as well call Tim Tebow.”
But the ownership in Florida has let it be known there is no interest in signing Tebow. Actually, it's unclear how strong that fan demand really is there; SportsNation tweeted today that “23 people and one baby showed up for the Tebow Rally. Tebowmania is officially over.”
Meanwhile, the Montreal Alouettes hold Tebow's negotiating rights in Canada, and the owner of the Moscow Black Storm has offered the QB $1 million to play in two American Football Championship games in Russia.
But check out the following posted over just the past few hours today:
“From a football standpoint, Arena ball is Tebow's best hope. Threading the tight passing lanes of indoor football might improve his delivery and get him an NFL gig. Hey, it worked for Kurt Warner.
“I know. The odds of that happening are about as good as Simmons being named the next Pope — but it would be fun to watch if you could stomach the cheesiness of it all.”
-David Whitley, Fox Sports
“Jacksonville is a fine town. But, it's not Los Angeles. Being a one-time 26-year-old male, I know where I would've rather have lived.
“Next, imagine the corporate wedding of these two. KISS plans on performing a concert for its season-ticket holders as a perk. Imagine Tebow walking on stage to, I don't know, 'War Machine' or 'Calling Dr. Love.'”
-Rick Johnson, American Business Journals (I saw it on LA Biz Journal)
This made No. 1 on a list of reasons to come play here:
“Playing for the L.A. KISS, while not exactly glamorous, allows Tim Tebow to be something he wasn't as an NFL player: employed.”
-Andrew Erickson, Los Angeles Magazine
Intensifying the Tebow-to-LA talk is a report that he's currently working out at USC. (Talk about a team needing a quarterback …)
If you Google L.A. Kiss Arena Football, nearly everything that comes back will be about Tebow. McMillen? Not so much (or not at all when I just checked). Here's what the league has posted about the franchise's first coach:
McMillen earned NET10 Wireless Head Coach of the Year honors in 2013 after guiding the Chicago Rush to a 10-8 record and Central Division championship in his third season at the helm. For his career, McMillen boasts a 33-21 regular season record and has never finished a season with a non-winning record. In his first season as a head coach, he guided the Rush to a 13-5 mark and an appearance in the National Conference championship game.
As a player, McMillen won ArenaBowl championships with three different teams during his 13-year career with the Arizona Rattlers, San Jose Sabercats and Chicago Rush. Voted the 17th Greatest Player in AFL History by the Silver Anniversary Committee in 2012, McMillen was a three-time ArenaBowl champion, two-time All-Arena selection and one-time All-Ironman selection. He ranks second in AFL history with 484 career rushing attempts and third in rushing yards with 1,508. McMillen was announced as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame Class of 2013 in August.
A guy who has bounced around from team to team and managed to collect yards rushing in a predominantly passing league: Sounds like McMillen and Tebow would be a match made in you-know-where.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.